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US Biometric & Other Electronic Access Control Products Demand to Reach $7.2 Billion in 2009

CLEVELAND, OH -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 25, 2005 -- US demand for biometric and other electronic
access control products and systems is forecast to increase more than 10
percent per year through 2009 to $7.2 billion. Technological innovation,
falling prices, relatively high crime rates and ongoing fears of terrorism
will all remain important growth drivers, bolstered by an expanding economy
and a boom in fixed investment in key markets such as offices and lodging
places. These and other trends are presented in "Biometric & Other
Electronic Access Control Systems," a new study from The Freedonia Group,
Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.

Biometric systems enjoy especially strong growth prospects, with annual
gains expected to surpass 30 percent. Growth will result from aggressive
reductions in system costs and increased use in anti-terrorism efforts.
Along with fingerprint and hand geometry systems, which have already
achieved substantial commercialization, nonintrusive biometric technologies
such as facial and voice recognition hold the potential to develop into
fairly sizable markets over a comparatively short time. Iris scanners hold
favorable prospects as well. Smart card-based access control systems will
also log double-digit annual gains, albeit from an even smaller base than
biometrics. Also holding favorable prospects are products that maximize the
performance of latter-generation electronic access control systems,
especially unbundled access control software and database
management/systems integration equipment.

Among major market sectors, the best gains will come in the air transport
segment, where the bulk of the post-9/11/2001 investment in explosive
detection devices has now been completed, freeing up additional resources
for spending on biometrics and access controls in general. Also enjoying
above-average prospects are less tapped markets such as financial and
business services, while the bedrock industrial sector, which accounts for
almost one-fourth of total demand, will track the access control market
average. The government and institutional market offers opportunities in a
number of specialized applications including border control and protection
of sensitive government facilities and health care records. The
residential market will record below-average gains, a reflection of
increasing maturity in the motor vehicle remote keyless entry (RKE) systems
segment.